


Another cup of coffee

by USSRomanoff



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, buckynat - Freeform, twist on coffee shop au, winterwidow - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-11 07:35:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2059458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/USSRomanoff/pseuds/USSRomanoff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twist on the coffee shop au idea. This takes place in the regular mcu world. Originally planned for a one shot but it grew too big for that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Barista knows my name

Natasha waited in line at a local coffee shop. Getting coffee like this wasn't her ideal choice but she broke her coffee pot this morning and it had irritated her enough that she would pay six bucks for a stupid cup of coffee to take into work.

Well-- sort of work. Natasha was working with Hill and Stark on making the Avengers a full time gig but it mostly consisted of sitting around and listening to them argue, or occasionally arguing with Stark and having Maria watch. It sometimes switched off. Either way the process was slow and they were trying to figure out the logistics, they couldn't just survive on Stark's fortune alone. 

The line moved slowly, giving Natasha ample time to breath in the secret of coffee. And listen to terrible coffee shop music and listen to a group of college students talk about how the occupy Wall Street movement had really been about fighting the colonization of American universities. Natasha. Raised her eyebrows as their main complaint seemed to be about the price so she wasn't sure where colonization came into the picture. Then again, she wasn't a twenty-something trying to get a degree in ethnomusicology so that showed how much she knew about the subject. 

She ignored the chatter around her after a while, opting to stare at the menu board even though she knew what she was going to order already. Finally it was her turn to order, she gave the barista at the cash register her order, making it complicated just because she was annoyed for having to stand in a line for so long over coffee she wasn't exactly fond of. She wasn't a big fan of coffee in the first place but as her days became less action packed she found that she needed the extra boost of caffeine. 

She watched the barista write "Natasha" on her cup before she handed the cup off to her male coworker. Natasha didn't pay too much attention as her phone began to buzz in her pocket. 

"You're late," Stark said, a gloating tone in his voice as she answered. 

"And you've been late far more than my one time I go off to get coffee," she replied. 

"Technically I was in the building, which means I wasn't late." 

"Yes, but we had to pull you out of your lab all the same." 

"Details, details. At least that's to be expected of me. You on the other hand..." 

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be there soon," Natasha saw her cup hit the counter, sleeve already around the cup. She grabbed it and turned for the door. "Coffee in hand, I'm leaving now." 

"We could have sent someone out for coffee you know. Or better yet, Dum-E could make some for us." 

"Look, I don't trust a robot that tries to dose me with a fire extinguisher because it can't tell the difference between a real fire and red hair," Natasha pushed open the coffee shop door and walked into the cit, making her way towards Stark Tower. 

"I still stand by my robot that there is no real way to be sure you don't just have fire on your head." 

"Hah hah," she sarcastically monotoned, "See you soon." Natasha hung up the phone and kept walking, sipping on her coffee as she walked. She was there within ten minutes, when she met both Hill and Stark, Maria had a look on her face that seemed to plead with Natasha not to leave her alone with Stark for so long again. 

They sat down around a table, discussing options for money. They couldn't charge people and they didn't want to get funded by any governments since they would want to try to control them. Donations seemed to be the best idea to be able to fund the Avengers. 

"We could hold a ball, have all the Avengers in attendance and try to get donations that way. It would be a good start at the very least," Tony said. 

Natasha nodded, setting her now empty coffee cup down. It was a good plan and the best thing that they had right now. "I suppose that can work," she agreed. 

Maria nodded in agreement as well. Tony glanced at Natasha's cup as they started to move on to the next item of business. 

"You made them re-write your name?" Tony asked pointing at her cup. Natasha raised a brow, confused as to what he was talking about. She pushed the sleeve down and turned her cup around. "Natasha" had been crossed out and underneath in a different handwriting was written "Natalia". Natasha's breath caught in her throat, there were only few people that knew her as Natalia and they weren't really friendly with her either. 

Natasha tried to remember what she could from the coffee shop. She hadn't looked at the other barista there that had prepared her coffee. She should have paid more attention, he could have slipped her something. She would have known by now if she had been poisoned, still the opportunity was open. 

There was only one person that knew her as Natalia that wouldn't mean her any harm, possibly. That depended on whether he had his memories back. And that just wasn't likely. Sam and Steve were out searching for the Winter Soldier, he wasn't going to turn up as a barista. That wasn't really his style. 

Still, Natasha had to find out who it was that had rewritten her name. She noticed that the room had gone quiet while she looked at the coffee cup. Maria and Tony stared at her, mild concern and confusion written on their faces. 

"Sorry," Natasha said, "I have to go home, I forgot something." 

Natasha stood and left the room without another word. She held onto the cup, she needed to figure out this mystery and the best way to do that was to go back to the coffee shop. He might still be working, that would make it easier for her to know who it was that was after her. 

The coffee shop wasn't far away at all but she couldn't help but feel like it took longer to walk back. She mentally went over the weapons she had on her and what in the coffee shop could be used to her advantage should the need arise. She wasn't planning on walking into a fight but she was more than ready to deal with that if she had to. It had to be some sort of message, "We're still out here and we still know where to find you". She kept thinking back, trying to recall any hint that would help her with the identity of her barista. She remembered that he was wearing gloves, but the cashier had been too. Food safety gloves. That didn't help, just because his were not opaque didn't' necessarily mean anything. The gloves could likely come in different sizes in the back. 

Part of Natasha hoped against hope that it was James. Except, what would he be doing working as a barista? And wouldn't Steve have found him if he had settled down enough to get a job at a coffee house in New York? What would have made James think, oh you know what I can do, make coffee. Especially when he was having difficulty with his memories. She just didn't buy it. The barista had been about his height, but he was of an average height with brown hair. Not very distinguishing when you're not really looking all that hard. 

Natasha made it back to the coffee house and found there were totally different bunch of people working now. It was likely the afternoon shift already, she'd hit the tail end of the morning shift she figured. She waited in line, which was short and addressed the cashier. 

"Hi, I was wondering if you could tell me who was in here working earlier?" 

The kid blinked at her for a few seconds, this obviously was not the sort of question he was prepared to answer. "Um, are you looking for someone specific because I think you might want to talk to my manager," he glanced towards the break room, "But she just went on break, so..." He trailed off dragging the so out. 

Natasha sighed, she wanted this sorted out now. "Okay, well I am going to talk to her," she declared. She pushed past him and moved behind the counter to go find the manager. She could answer her while she sat on break very easily. She heard him following her as she went into the break room, fine she didn't care. 

The manager looked up, a bit surprised as she was entering but not too surprised. She likely dealt with demanding customers all day. "I tried to tell--" the employee behind her tried to explain, likely making sure the manager knew he had no part in this. 

"I just want to know who was working this morning," Natasha said calmly. The manager looked at her with suspicion, she didn't think this was going to end up easy. It was a strange request. 

"I'm not comfortable just giving out that information, why do you need to know?" the manager asked her. 

There was no way for Natasha to explain this in a way that would make logical sense to this woman. Her reasoning would sound absurd. "I think someone I know works here but it was so busy I couldn't say hi and make sure it was him," she said. 

"Sorry, but I'm going to have to say no. You can come back and see if he is working some other day. Maybe he'll want to talk to you." Natasha got the hint from the way she spoke and her posture that this woman had dealt with a stalker of her own and was suspicious of Natasha to be stalking one of her employees. She didn't blame the woman, there was not much else she could do. Natasha nodded and left the shop entirely. 

From here Natasha could return and hack into the company files but that might not get her anywhere. This wasn't the sort of company that took and kept photos of their employees and whoever was writing "Natalia" on her cup was not going to be using their real name. It left it hard for her to figure out without knowing who had been working and when they were scheduled to work again. She decided to just go the route of coming back to the coffee shop till she found them. 

While breaking and entering was the easiest there was a chance word could get out and trying to explain to Hill and Stark how she was hunting down someone who wrote on her cup sounded paranoid. She wanted to avoid that hassle. Or worse, they would believe her and then all of the Avengers would be investigating a stupid coffee shop. She wasn't having that either, until she knew there was a real threat she wasn't going to involve them.


	2. Brought together again

Natasha made excuses with Hill and Stark so she could set aside whole days to sit in the coffee shop from when it opened till closing. She couldn't do this every day and seemed to pick the days that he wasn't working. No one out of the ordinary came in to work at the coffee shop, and no one that fit what she remembered of the barista who handled her drink. 

On days when she couldn't stay all day she came in to get a morning cup of coffee. It was the best she could manage. She tried to ask a few of the baristas questions but the manager seemed to have told them not to answer her questions, they served her and were polite but no one would tell her the names of their male coworkers. 

A week after the incident, Natasha was stopping by to grab a cup before she had to be at Stark Tower. She wasn't able to stay the whole day as Tony was pushing through his Avengers Ball idea and she needed to help with the plans. She really missed the days where she was sent out in the field on a mission. The line wasn't too long the morning, only five people ahead of her and she could stand inside while waiting for her order to be taken. 

Natasha glanced first at the person behind the machines making the drinks, it was the short blonde college student that she had noticed one of trips here. Her eyes drifted back to the person behind the cash register and her breath caught in her throat. Frozen in the midst of writing down an order on a cup was James. He was dressed in the uniform, apron and all, taking someone's coffee order. His customer was trying to get his attention but he was staring at Natasha instead of taking the order. Natasha stared right back at him. She had ruled it out as the most unlikely answer to her mystery yet he was right here, working at a coffee shop and staring back at her with recognition in his eyes. 

James set the coffee cup down, ignoring the customer who was beginning to get angry at him for ignoring her. He walked around the counter and up to Natasha in line. He didn't say anything, just bent his head down and pressed his lips against hers, wrapping his flesh arm around her to pull her close to him. 

Natasha wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, shocked that he knew her but grateful that he did at the same time. She almost couldn't believe that this was real. That he was really kissing her and holding her. She kissed him with a fierceness, afraid he might slip away from her again. She had n idea what he remembered, if it was just bits and pieces or everything. That didn't matter right now as she clung to him. Tears escaped from her eyes unbidden, she never thought she would get to kiss him again, hell even talk to him. Natasha had thought he was dead for the longest time, before Odessa when he shot her the first time. Even when she knew he was alive, she'd lost hope that he would ever remember her. James' cheeks were wet with his own tears she soon discovered as she brought a hand up to cup his cheek and hold him gently to herself. 

James pulled away slowly, running his hand through her hair as he looked down at her. They had both forgotten where they were and now his coworkers were trying to get his attention. Natasha quickly wiped at her cheeks as he glanced up where his coworker was trying to get him to come back to the register. 

"I get off in two hours, would you wait Natalia?" he asked, voice soft. 

Natasha nodded, she'd waited so long already, what was an additional two hours. "Are you sure-- You can't just talk now?" 

James shook his head. "I need this job, I'll explain, I promise. Go sit and I'll make you something for free, okay?" 

A bit dazed and reluctant to part from his embrace, Natasha nodded and moved out of the line, finding a table and sitting down. James was here and he knew who she was again. She sat staring at him in disbelief, watching as he stole glances to her as often as he could. her phone buzzed and she remembered that she was supposed to be on her way to Stark Tower. She retrieved the coffee that James had made for her and texted Hill quickly, claiming to be sick but able to work from home. 

She began texting Hill back and forth, hammering out details, Hill emailed her a budget report to go over and asked Natasha to speak to Pepper about help with finding vendors to help decorate and cater the event. 

It was hard working, knowing the clock was ticking down to when she could actually talk to James again but she kept at it. Natasha figured once he got off of work she wasn't going to want to do anything else but focus on him and finding out what had happened since the fall of SHIELD. 

As promised, two hours later, James joined her at the table she had sat at. It took all of Natasha's willpower not to launch out of her seat and into his arms again. There was time for that later, she wanted to learn what had happened to him. 

James took off his apron. "So, I guess-- I don't know where to start," he sighed. 

"Start from here you left Steve," Natasha suggested. 

James took a deep breath and nodded. "Well, when I left Steve I was-- confused to say the least. Small flashes of memories, more impressions than anything else. I was trying to piece together who I was, trying to stay out of anyone's sights. I visited the museum exhibit on him, and there was all the information about me and it was almost surreal, reading about myself but having no actual memories to connect that to. I knew people were after me so I left DC, trying to get by. When I got to New York, I realized I needed a job to get by so I started looking and was hired here. As I set up here I got the rest of my memories back and that's where we are now," he said. 

"Why didn't you try to get in touch with Steve when you got your memories back? Why stay here?" she asked. 

"Because I can't-- I can't face him after everything I've done. I can barely face you but at least I know that you understand. You've been where I am, you were able to get out of their control long before me, but you know what it's like," he said. 

Natasha nodded, she did understand and how everyone else would try to sympathize but it wasn't the same as someone who had been through the same thing. She knew it wasn't actually James that had shot her, he didn't know what he was doing and had no choice. He hadn't been in control of himself. She reached out and took his hand in hers, squeezing it tightly. It wasn't until she squeezed that she realized she'd taken his metal hand in hers. It didn't matter to her, she loved all of him. 

"So where does that leave you now?" she asked him. 

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I guess I plan on working here until I find a better job." 

Natasha nodded slowly, not sure how to ask what that meant about them. Could she come by the coffee house and see him? He didn't want to contact Steve so if they saw each other more then would she have to keep it a secret? She didn't have an issue with secrets, only she'd done the whole secret affair with him before and she wasn't eager at all to relive that. 

"Well, there far worse jobs that you could have," she said. 

James nodded in agreement, flipping his hand over to hold her hand in his. Natasha's phone was buzzing again, she ignored it letting Hill and Stark figure things out on their own. He looked up around the coffee shop for a second before he looked back at her. 

"Do you want to go grab something to eat?" He asked, almost hesitant. 

"Yeah," Natasha agreed, realizing she was actually pretty hungry at this point. "We can go get some food." 

"Then you can tell me what you've been up to since I last saw and remembered you," he said standing and wrapping an arm around her back as she stood. The warmth and closeness of him felt good, along with being in his embrace. It felt good to have him touching her again and not meaning her any harm, his touch was soft and gentle again, just as she remembered. 

"Me? I'm not sure that's really a story worth telling," she shrugged. 

"Sure it is," he insisted, leading her outside, "I care about what's happened to you since they separated us."


End file.
